400-Pound Man Pleads Guilty to Accidentally Smothering Boy

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A 400-pound Ohio man who pinned his 11-year-old step-grandson against the arm of a couch while trying to control the boy with mild autism during a tantrum has pleaded guilty to killing the boy.

Donald Martin Jr., 58, of Mount Orab, Ohio, entered a plea Thursday to a reckless homicide charge in Brown County. Brown County sheriff’s Sgt. Chad Noble on Friday called Dylan Davis’s death a “tragic accident.” He says Martin tried to intervene when the 90-pound boy began acting out last November.

Dylan’s grandmother called 911 to report that the boy had passed out after a tantrum. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. A coroner ruled that he died of positional asphyxiation. Martin’s attorney couldn’t be immediately reached for comment Friday. Sentencing is scheduled for May 8.